1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a knee joint bandage made of elastic textile material, the bandage being provided with an oval-shaped profiled insert encompassing the kneecap in an opening, the profiled insert being covered by an overlay, which is fastened to the textile material and is made of identical or similar textile material. Arranged within the profiled insert is a flexible, non-expandable tensioning member extending between the kneecap poles on the fibula side in an arc around the kneecap, such that during bending of the knee joint, a distance of the tensioning member from the connection line of the kneecap poles is decreased, and the tensioning member presses on an adjacent side of the kneecap, displacing the same medially and centering it.
2. Description of Background Art
A knee joint bandage such as this is disclosed in EP 396 702 B1. In this knee joint bandage, lateral pressure is exerted on the kneecap during bending of the knee joint, that is, in the direction of the internal side of the knee joint. It has been found that with a slight and desired displacement of the kneecap brought about in this way, the side of the kneecap facing away from the tensioning member lifts lightly off the knee joint, especially when a corresponding deformation of the bones in the knee joint is already present (for example, due to some pre-existing condition). In a worst case scenario, this can result in the dislocation of the kneecap from its normal position.